Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New Delhi
The G-20 group, which includes the world’s economically most powerful nations including India, will hold a “virtual summit” on Thursday to coordinate their attempts to stave off a financial and health disaster.
The invitees to the summit also include current chairs of regional organisations such as the ASEAN and GCC as well as representatives of multilateral organisations like IMF and World Bank that have already been flooded by requests for emergency bail-outs.
“The Saudi G20 Presidency has set the date of the extraordinary virtual Leaders’ Summit for Thursday, March 26. King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will chair the meeting to advance a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its human and economic implications,” said an official statement from Saudi Arabia, which holds the G20 presidency.
The G-20 has invited other countries badly hit by coronavirus such as Italy, Spain, Jordan, Singapore, and Switzerland. They will be joined by multilateral organisations such as the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, the WHO, the World Trade Organisation, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The main G-20 summit is due in Riyadh in November but there has been criticism about the grouping for failing to get its act together.
Regional organisations at the “virtual summit” will include Association of Southeast Asian Nations ((Vietnam as Chair), African Union (South Africa as Chair), Gulf Cooperation Council (United Arab Emirates as Chair) and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Rwanda as Chair).
The G-20 had come into prominence after it coordinated global attempts to reverse the worldwide financial crises in 2008-09. While the world turned the corner, many of the ill-effects including a banking crises in India due to easy credit, manifested later.
Finance Ministers of G-20 had earlier met in Riyadh and had taken the decision to widen the ambit of consultations to include the IMF, World Bank, OECD, FSB, and WHO. It has also asked international multilateral organisations to use their available instruments to the fullest extent possible, including emergency financing, policy advice and technical assistance as part of a coordinated global response.
